The present invention generally relates to wireless communication systems, and particularly relates to the management of neighbor lists in wireless communication systems.
A wireless communication system for communicating with mobile terminals is typically divided up into a plurality of cells. While a mobile terminal is in one cell, it is common for the mobile terminal to monitor channels belonging to other nearby cells, particularly in anticipation of being handed-off to another cell. Typically, the mobile terminal does not monitor all possible channels, but instead monitors the channels on a so-called neighbor list. This neighbor list is typically provided to the mobile terminal on the control channel of current cell by the base station of the current cell. Thus, each base station transmits the neighbor list to the mobile terminals that are using that cell, based on a stored neighbor list for that cell. As cells are added or deleted, and/or as the assignment of control channels to particular cells changes, the contents of the stored neighbor lists need to be updated to reflect the new arrangements, so that the mobile terminals are provided with correct neighbor list information.